


With Roses in my Hands

by emeraldvixen



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Drabble, F/M, First Meetings, Human Caroline Forbes, Klaus is a softie, Meet-Cute, Romantic Fluff, Self-Indulgent, Soulmates, and paints flowers for his girl, i'm weak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24529417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldvixen/pseuds/emeraldvixen
Summary: Soulmate AU inspired by a Tumblr post, in which anything you paint on your skin appears on your soulmates skin too. I believe the original poster is let-gavin-free.Winner of the 2020 KC Award in the Best AU supernatural one-shot category.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 29
Kudos: 438





	With Roses in my Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This is drabble-y, unbeta-d and unproofed. Written in approx 2 hours. All the good stuff.

**1992**  
  
Caroline was born with tattoos. Over her left shoulder a feather breaking apart to tiny flying birds, and on her right shoulder blade, a triangle. Being born with tattoos wasn’t unheard of, but it wasn’t common given the age restrictions required to get them. Not many soulmates had an eighteen year plus age difference. 

As she lay in the hospital bed with the sleeping newborn tucked into her chest, Liz stayed up all night and worried about just how much older Caroline’s soulmate was. It wasn’t what she had pictured for her child, but she had no choice but to come to terms with the idea. After all, soulmates were soulmates for a reason. 

* * *

**1996**  
  
Klaus had long since given up on finding his soulmate. He’d gone a millennia without so much as an ink blot appearing on his skin, and had thus come to the conclusion - as all his siblings had - that soulmate magic stopped with their Original vampirism.

That’s why his stomach dropped one day, when he glanced down at his drink and saw a muddle of colours littering his left arm. Even in the fading light of the Italian evening, they stood bright against his skin, infantile - or _abstract_ \- in their jumbled arrangement. 

After making a quick excuse to leave his company, Klaus practically flew upstairs to his private quarters and lifted his arm for closer inspection. For the first time in a long time, he smiled. 

* * *

**1997**  
  
Almost a year later, Caroline was finally granted something back. She was sitting at the dinner table, cutting into her chicken with vigour. The dancing colours layered themselves over her left arm in broad strokes and brought an immediate halt to her action. A sharp gasp sounded from her right as Liz noticed, and together they watched in silence as delicate vines and bright orange marigolds wrapped around her wrist and forearm. 

“Pretty.” Caroline whispered, as though they’d disappear if she spoke too loud. 

“They’re beautiful,” Liz murmured back, a small smile teasing her lips at her daughter’s amazement, “they must be an artist. Eat your carrots.”

* * *

  
**2002**  
  
Klaus had finished a particularly testing bit of business in Vienna. As usual, he returned to his villa and shut his bedroom door before tearing off the long sleeve he frequently covered his left arm with. 

They’d fallen into a pattern. Around midday - almost everyday - he’d find some new art on his arm. Usually bright and bold, but quick and rough around the edges. His mate was clearly young, but their work was getting better constantly, and the feeling that gave him felt a lot like pride. It was his favourite time of the day, getting to see what they’d left for him. Then, after an hour or so, it would be gone, washed away in what he theorised to be embarrassment on his mate’s side. 

So Klaus would paint something back. He stuck with beautiful things, using the bright colours they so clearly liked. Landscapes, flowers, blended hues and patterns. Hours later, they’d stay on his arm, even faded and worn. Eventually he’d wash it off himself, if only so he’d get something in return on the blank canvas of his skin. 

* * *

**2006**  
  
Caroline realised that high school kind of sucked. Sure, she was good at it - great, really - but the time pressure it put on her was less fun. Frequently in those first few weeks she’d scribbled notes on her hand, homework, reminders and doodles littering her skin. 

It’d been a while since she’d tried to paint something for him - and she now was fairly sure that he was a him, given that she only had eyes for the boys in school. Caroline realised that she was never going to be a great artist, and so was channeling her talents into other areas in her academic ventures. Still, she tried to keep her skin as clean as possible and frequently found herself craving the times when brilliant colours would appear over her body. They did, _sometimes_. Usually flowers. She often wondered what his favourites were. 

Other people would look too, and she lost track of how many had commented on the violets or the sunflowers or the dahlias on her skin. It was nice knowing that her mate had a talent, one that people would so openly admire. 

“Do you think he goes here?” Elena had asked on the first day of high school. 

“Nah, I think he’s older.”

“That’s cool, college boys are hot.”

“Yeah,” Caroline had sighed at her friends assumption - one she probably would have made too, were it not for the tattoos she kept hidden behind cute jackets and short sleeved t-shirts. _It’ll be fine._ She told herself. _40 year olds can be hot - right?_

* * *

**2008**  
  
Klaus was feeling impatient. It was mostly in the time between travel and family business and whatever else he could find to distract himself. In between all those was the promise that somewhere his soulmate was growing up. 

He’d thought about it over the years, _obsessed_ even. What would they’d look like now, twelve years after their first artwork? What age would they be - fifteen, sixteen maybe? How nice it’d be to have a soulmate. Someone submissive and pretty to go to the ends of the earth for him. Someone loyal. 

Gently, he set down his sketchpad for the afternoon with every intention of painting something for his mate, but ink was spreading fast over the back of his left hand where their incoherent scrawls usually lived. 

_What’s your name?  
_

* * *

  
She’d overstepped. She’d overstepped and thought of very little else for the rest of the day. Her skin was clean now - he’d washed it off quickly, wiping away the source of her anxiety. While plenty of soulmates communicated over their skin, it was still a little taboo and seen as improper and desperate. 

And yet Caroline was at the end of her tether. The distractingly flirty boys in school were interested and interesting, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her mate. If he was older, surely he hadn’t waited around for her. _But what if he had._ Forty odd years of waiting. She couldn’t risk it, could she? Would her soulmate judge her harshly for a little third-party dating?

In a moment of madness, she’d reached for a pen on her sideboard and written the question in her very best handwriting. 

Hours later, right as Caroline fell asleep, her heart burst at the letters which appeared on her hand. _Nik_.

* * *

**2010**  
  
It was spring when Klaus first considered heading back to Mystic Falls in search of the doppelganger. His soulmate was on his mind often, and it was his full intention to start searching the second his hybrid plan was complete. 

His _Caroline_ , as she wrote back unprompted, had been quiet for a while after her bold move. _Impatient little thing._ Still, he painted for her when he could, and she was prompt in her responses, sometimes scribbling back a ‘thank you’ when he finally washed off the fading paint. Caroline still refused to wash his artwork away and Klaus found something quite endearing in that. Yes, he was very much looking forward to meeting his _stubborn_ mate. Other times she graced him with dates and times and reminders, little clues as to her normal life. A cheerleader. Busy. Buys groceries. 

Today she gifted him a heart in a black ballpoint pen, just down from the juncture of his thumb, a tiny reminder of _her_.

* * *

**2011**  
  
Vampirism, werewolves and now Originals, Caroline’s life had gone from 0 to 100 in a matter of months. Klaus was in town and had caused nothing but carnage to Caroline’s plans for a smooth and happy Junior year. She’d never even met the guy, but from the sounds of Elena and Tyler’s run-ins, he was a real piece of work.

The only thing which kept her together was the pretty floral patterns drawn across her arm. It was amazing how, even after all this time and hundreds of paintings, each new work was special. He mixed it up, sometimes watercolours which bled into the texture of her skin, sometimes line drawings in ink which would linger for days, and sometimes oil paintings which were always washed away too soon for Caroline to fully appreciate them. They always seemed to appear on her worst days, just a gentle reminder of her person. _Nik_. Someone just for her, who would believe her and be willing to learn about the mad world she lived in, she hoped. 

In truth, she was beyond impatient now. Plenty of people met their soulmates in their 20’s, but not in Mystic Falls. In Mystic Falls, a huge portion of the population met as kids or in high school, and all around her couples were joined at the hip. Because Mystic Falls was the kind of place that people don’t leave. _Except her, hopefully. Maybe Nik was a traveller. Maybe she’d meet him in Rome, or Paris, or Tokyo._

Well, if she was going to meet her match in Rome, she’d probably have to graduate first which meant that the Klaus situation needed dealt with as soon as possible, and Caroline was an expert in efficiency. She had marched into the Mystic Grill and found him relaxed at a bar stool. His back was to her, covered in a dark coat. 

“You’re Klaus,” she said over the quiet music and light chattering that came with the weekday lunch slot. 

Slowly, he swivelled in his seat. Flawless skin, dirty blonde curls, cheekbones which could cut glass. _No one warned her he was hot?!_

His eyes settled on her with an ungodly confidence. “Usually I don’t play well with baby vampires. Why don’t you run along now?” 

The British lilt which carried his voice was like honey, but Caroline set her jaw tightly and stepped closer, fingers clenched the strap of her bag. “Why don’t you run out of town?”

He hummed in response, nursing a whisky without dropping eye contact. “That’s bold, love.” 

“I’m not your love.” Caroline snapped automatically, then cursed herself for having the lamest comeback ever, “you’re ruining my year.”

“Oh and we wouldn’t want that now, would we?” he jested, smirking with a slight shake of his head. 

Klaus was just about to turn back around when she replied, “no, we wouldn’t. So I want you gone.”

“Well, I could remedy that for you by removing your heart from your chest, but I wouldn’t want to cause a scene.” Klaus smiled back to her, but seeing that she had no intention of moving on, tried a different tactic. “Have you met the bartender, Matt? Lovely boy, seems about your age.”

“Don’t you d-” Caroline started, crossing her arms. The shift caused the sleeve of her light denim jacket to ride up and a streak of vibrant cobalt caught Klaus’ eye. He was up in a flash, standing a foot away as he grabbed her wrist in a vice-like grip and pushed the denim up further, exposing the electric blue hyacinth stalks which sat on pale skin. “Uh, excuse me?!” Caroline hissed, pulling sharply against his cool grasp.

A beat went by, and then another. Klaus didn’t move an inch, the tension around her wrist constant and on the verge of painful. Then, in slow motion, his eyes dragged up to meet her own. His nostrils flared, gaze so intense it send her heart fluttering as he spoke very quietly, “did you like my paintings, Caroline?”

“…Nik?!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please consider subscribing and commenting if you liked this work! You can also catch me on Tumblr to give me prompts at euvixen!


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